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Electric rail selected for RTD Gold Line- Streetcars shelved

The RTD FasTracks Gold Line team recently announced that the RTD Board has accepted the project team’s recommendation to select electric commuter rail on the BNSF/Union Pacific Railroad alignment as the preferred alternative for the Gold Line.

Over the past month, input gathered from local governments, regulatory agencies and the community showed support for the team’s recommendation.

The RTD Board also accepted the Gold Line Team’s recommendation to eliminate the streetcar alternative, which was proposed to run on arterial streets including 38th Avenue, Harlan and Ridge Road, from consideration for the Gold Line.

The extended look at streetcars had strong support from North Denver city councilman Rick Garcia, who did not want North Denver to miss an opportunity to get direct service from FasTracks. With the current design, FasTracks will not directly serve North Denver neighborhoods.

Over the past two months, the RTD Board was considering asking the Gold Line and East Corridor Teams to evaluate both electric and diesel powered commuter rail in their Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) due to cost impacts to the FasTracks program. Cost overruns have dramatically impacted FasTracks, and have forced a reduction in service with fewer stations and circumscribed technology choices.

By accepting the Gold Line Team’s recommendation, the RTD Board has determined that electric commuter rail will be the only type of train technology evaluated from this point forward in the Gold Line EIS.

The Gold Line Team will now begin the more detailed engineering and environmental analysis needed to get federal approval for the project. Another round of public meetings will be held in the fall to discuss the preliminary findings from the team’s more detailed evaluations of the alternative. The analysis will be summarized in a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) that is expected to be published by early 2008.The DEIS is a federally mandated step in the process of building the light rail system out.***